Last May, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston launched its Working Cities Challenge: An effort to catalyze cross-sector civic collaboration to improve the lives of low-income people in Massachusetts' small cities. This competition was modeled on our Integration Initiative, and we are proud today to join Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, Governor Patrick, and Boston Fed’s Eric Rosengren, among other cross-sector leaders, in announcing six cities winning a total of $1.8 million in grants.

As our CEO, Ben Hecht said: “Collaborative leadership has been the key to the resurgence of some of America’s largest cities. It is our belief that while the issues faced by these cities are common, these problems can only be solved when dynamic cross-sector leaders come together.”

We are excited to congratulate all participating cities and look forward to working and learning with them in the coming months and years. We are joined in supporting these efforts by the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, MassDevelopment, Bank of America, The Boston Foundation, Surdna Foundation, the Move the World Foundation, the Hyams Foundation, and Boston Private Bank and Trust. Other key partners in the endeavor include Boston Community Capital, which will serve as fiscal agent, and MassINC, which is a long-time leader on small city initiatives.

Nadia leads Living Cities' communications work, focused on harnessing the power of story, information, and technology to deepen and accelerate promising approaches to address poverty and inequality in US cities.